03 April 2009

The perceived lack of success of public agricultural extension systems in many countries has resulted in new approaches being tried in reorganizing extension services.

In some countries, such as India and China, public extension systems have been decentralized to the district/county level and these public extension systems are now pursuing a more market-driven approach. In other countries, different models have been tried, involving both private-sector firms and civil society organizations (CSOs). Also, in some countries, there have been attempts to shift more of the cost of extension services to the farmers themselves, with limited success.

This paper provides a framework for analyzing the success or failure of different approaches within the agricultural development process in providing particular extension services to different categories of farmers.